Sergio Perez believes Miami GP victory was possible had he avoided engine issues

Sergio Perez believes that he would have been in with a chance of winning the Miami Grand Prix had he not suffered a power deficit during the race.

The Mexican pushed hard during the race but could not improve on his 4th place starting spot, with him behind Carlos Sainz for the duration of the Grand Prix.

Midway through he also reported a loss of power in his Red Bull car, and the team would have naturally been worried that more reliability issues were going to strike, having already seen multiple retirements this season as an outfit.

However, they managed to find a way to look after the car to make sure it still finished, and finished with good points, though Perez ultimately was a little hamstrung by a remaining power drop-off.

Indeed, the Red Bull is seen as arguably the fastest car in a straight line at the moment but Perez could not make use of that on Sunday, and he was ultimately condemned to staying outside of the top three as Sainz kept him at bay in the Ferrari, despite a late lunge from the Mexican in the closing stages.

Speaking post-race, though, it was clear Perez felt even better than P3 could have been attained, with him having this to say about a potential victory in Miami:

“With a normal engine, I would have had a chance,” he said, as quoted by Motorsport.com.

“I was in a great spot.

“Unfortunately, even with DRS, I couldn’t get close to Carlos, the deficit on the straight-line was quite high.

“I was just pushing really hard to stay close to him in the corners. My tyres were overheating. As soon as I had a little opportunity, I went for it. It was too dirty off line.

“After that I just couldn’t get close. The deficit on the straight line was too much.”

Perez is once again proving a reliable points